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Review of the Year 2011: July

Who’s your favourite Roman Emperor? Btw if you don’t have one, take a long, hard look at yourself and your priorities. Nero? Tiberius? Hadrian and his massive wall? Maybe like me you’re a fan of Elagabalus, because it sounds like something Vic Reeves might say. Only dullards ever say Julius Ceasar – a popular but unimaginative choice, he’s the Michael Bublé of the emperors. He did though get a month named after him, and this is our look at it…

In our current age of information overload, few stories genuinely stop you in your tracks but there were two deaths in July that gave us pause for thought. With Lucian Freud we mourned the passing of a true genius, a titan of the art world who bowed out after a career at the very top, when Amy Winehouse succumbed to her demons we reflected on the tragedy of an unfulfilled talent. July was also the month the phone hacking scandal in the UK really blew up, and rocked by revelation after revelation the British media could be changed forever before the next year is out.

At It’s Nice That we were very proud with Issue #6 featuring George Lois and Lawrence Weiner, and thrilled when people went as potty for the electro-pink cover as we did. We also held our Graduates 2011 show, with 12 super-talented up-and-coming stars of the future finally whittled down from a pool of ridiculously great applicants.

The clever chaps at FOAM scored one of the hits of the year with their 3D music posters (which will be discussed in detail in our graphic design review) while we were thrilled to report back on Bompas and Parr’s latest madcap venture, creating a lime-green lake on the roof of Selfridge’s complete with a waterfall and rowing boats. UVA’s High Arctic installation in Greenwich was another gloriously immersive experience (although for a much more serious cause) and Rebecca Wilson’s paper-ceramic remix was a head-melter we had a lot of time for. Oh, and I arrived as online editor, which was nice.

My 2011 – Mike Guppy

When we came to select our Graduates class of 2011, we were bowled over by the quality on offer and confident the tough choices we were forced to make produced our strongest annual summer showcase to date. But not content with merely making the cut, Camberwell grad Michael Guppy went on to have the single most viewed article on the site this year (10,936 and counting). Who better to give us his views on the past 12 months?

What was the best thing you saw in 2011?

Probably because it was most recent, but the Gerhard Richter exhibition at Tate Modern was awesome.

Who would you give a Best Person of 2011 award to?

My gran – she turned 90 this year.

What was the most memorable thing that happened to you?

Being picked for the Graduates 2011 feature (thanks).

Were you in any (metaphorical/not metaphorical) fights this year? Did you win?

A fox got into our house, and after four hours we managed to get it out using a variety of objects. It was more a battle of wits.

What would you take from 2011 and give to 2012?

More thought, less stuff.

What were you doing in July?

Finishing university and saying goodbye to student loans. Then subsequently freaking out.

The It’s Nice That Podcast has begun over on Radio Wolfgang, a series that will evaluate popular creative works and assess why they’re so successful. In this first episode, It’s Nice That founders Will Hudson and Alex Bec unwrap the credentials of a distinctive christmas advert, questioning whether it’s “a psychological science or a creative dark art?”

Today America decides whether it is “stronger together” or if it wants to be made “great again”. Over the past few months one of the most hotly contested, shocking and savage presidential campaigns ever has played out. Tomorrow, should the losing candidate decide to concede, the new president of the USA will be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

In July, we asked three art directors how they arrived in their role, and what it takes to lead a creative team. Now, in association with fashion talent company Mastered, It’s Nice That explores the line between creativity and commercial success.

Beirut is a city of contradictions, both buoyed and bound by its past and present; the push and pull between its history and future is particularly acute in the divergent experiences of older and younger generations. The Lebanese Civil War ended in the autumn of 1990, and now the generation born at or towards its end, who have lived through its consequences and inherited its legacy from their families are working towards a new creativity, one that recognises but is not necessarily defined by history.

The Adobe Creative Residency gives talented individuals the opportunity to focus on a personal project for a year. Meanwhile Adobe Create magazine explores behind the scenes, sharing the artist’s process and passion along the way.

The final instalment of The Night series, created by Vice Sports for Samsung, follows downhill racing champion Katy Curd careering through the Forest of Dean on her bike after the sun has set. Shot by Nick Ahlmark, a documentary film maker who has worked for the likes of Al Jazeera, Ride The Night: Downhill into Darkness sees riders speed along narrow tracks as the forest emerges from and fades into the inky black of the night, illuminated by the lamps mounted on handlebars. Drones speed along, capturing the riders as they race along tracks, slashing through the darkness as the trees and foliage are reduced to a blur. “You can’t just rely on your sight. You rely on your natural instincts,” says Katy. “It brings on different emotions as you test your skills in a different way.”